cut to the chase
Meaning: To get straight to the point.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “Let me cut to the chase: we can't afford the trip.”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: From early Hollywood: silent comedies often ended in a chase, and a script would note a cut straight to it, skipping slower scenes. The figurative phrase is recorded from the late 1920s.
Equivalents in other languages
- Dutch: Met de deur in huis vallen — literally: To fall with the door into the house
More idioms — Daily Life
- be lost for words — To be so surprised or moved that one cannot speak.
- know the score — To understand the real situation, including its less pleasant facts.
- go down the drain — To be wasted or lost, or to fail completely.
- of the old school — Holding traditional values or ways of doing things.
- keep one's eye on the ball — To stay focused on what matters.
- be cut out for something — To have the right qualities for something.
More English idioms
- cherry-pick — To choose only the best or most convenient items.
- go to bat for someone — To support or defend someone.
- pull the plug — To put a stop to something, especially by cutting off its support.
- clean house — To get rid of unwanted people or practices in an organization.
- kick it up a notch — To increase effort, intensity or excitement.
- take matters into one's own hands — To act oneself because others have failed to.
From our false friends
- Sensible — Actually means 'sensitive'. For sensible/level-headed, say raisonnable.
- Librairie — Actually means 'bookshop'. A library is une bibliothèque.
- Constipado — Actually means 'having a head cold'. Estoy constipado = I have a cold.